Yellowish Flycatcher

Boquete, Panama. February 8. 2015. Still filling time, I tried another at-random draw from my photo album and came up with a butterfly on my first try, a Canadian Tiger Swallowtail on Purple Coneflower.  Not a bird but a nice picture nevertheless.

A couple more tries and I landed on this Yellowish Flycatcher seen along a forest path in Panama. Interestingly, just like the Malachite Kingfisher in my last post, I can clearly remember spotting and enjoying this individual, I can bring to mind the little recess it had chosen off to one side of the trail, and how it sat so obligingly still for me. I remember thinking it was all over when it zipped away to snap up a fly, but like many flycatchers it came back to just about the same spot to resume its quiet watch.

Certainly, photos trigger memories. I tested myself and dipped in for a few more photos and the quality of memories varied according to how singular the sighting. It’s no coincidence that Yellowish Flycatcher and the Malachite Kingfisher were both one-offs from exotic travels.

One thing that strikes me about the Yellowish Flycatcher is how characteristic is it of members of the Empidonax flycatcher family, It looks and behaves just like our familiar Least Flycatcher except of course that it looks as if it’s been dipped in yellow dye.

But, paradoxically, I have dim recollections of the bird below, a Tufted Flycatcher, I think it was just a brief encounter a little earlier on that same day and I had snapped the photo to aid in identification later. Looking at it now though I wish I’d had more time with it, a lovely looking bird.

Our summer flycatchers can be a bit baffling to sort out, we have half a dozen of almost look-alikes, but Panama has many more of its own plus ours as winter visitors. Fortunately the Yellowish and the Tufted were both easy identifications to make.

The Yellowish Flycatcher might well have been Bird of the Day, but I do remember there was lots to choose from that day, Panama is bird-rich.